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Roper (Battletoads/Double Dragon)
Roper is a boss in Battletoads/Double Dragon. He is a machine gun-wielding minion of the Shadow Boss who shows up to confront the 'Toads and the Dragons at the end of Level 3, Ropes 'N' Roper. The player can only avoid his bullets by crouching. At close range, he will swing the butt of his machine gun at the player. Description No, your eyes are not deceiving you, that's not Roper, the recurrent enemy from the Double Dragon franchise, but Willy, the leader of the Shadow Warriors in the first two games. This naming mishap likely occurred due to Rare not being acquainted with Double Dragon's established lore and assets. Whatever the case is, this "Roper" is one of the most dangerous bosses the player will face in the game. He's very large (or as the manual states, "he's as big as Abobo") and wields an equally big machine gun (or more properly, an assault rifle). He attacks by shooting a lengthy stream of bullets straightforward which can only be evaded by crouching. These barrages can be very lengthy and it may take several seconds before he takes a break to reload his gun; any attempt to move in the meantime will result in instantly getting hit by the bullets, which often results in the player taking several successive hits as they are being knocked back by the impacts. If the player is close, Roper will instead resort to perform quick and powerful swings with the butt of his gun, which are able to beat down even a player with full health in a matter of seconds. As with most bosses in the game, the best method to defeat him is by constantly performing dashing attacks without giving him chance to recover. This is a bit tricky, though, as Roper will be sent flying all across the screen whenever he is hit and he may land on an inconvenient spot (e.g.: on top of the player). In such cases, the instant flying kick (↓''' + '''ATTACK) can be a lifesaver, as it can be performed in quick succession and not requiring to find a moment to perform a dash first. Gallery Artworks Roper (Battletoads-Double Dragon) - 02.jpg|'Ropers artwork used in most manuals Sprites RoperSpriteNES.png|NES RoperSpriteSNES.png|SNES RoperSpriteMD.png|Genesis Trivia *Roper, despite sharing his name with a recurring underling and being nothing more than a stage boss, is clearly intended to be Willy Mackey, the leader of the Shadow Warriors and arch-nemesis of the Lee brothers in the first two ''Double Dragon games (and their remakes). This discrepancy was likely the result of developer Rare not being very familiar with the Double Dragon storyline and characters. *Roper's character design differs between the 8-bit and 16-bit versions. In the NES and Game Boy versions, Roper closely resembles Willy (especially in his face portrait), with his widow peak and spiked shoulder pad. In the Super NES and Sega Genesis versions, he instead resembles a shirtless Schwarzenegger-like commando with stubble. See also *Roper *Willy Category:Humans Category:Male characters Category:Shadow Warriors Category:Battletoads/Double Dragon bosses Category:Battletoads/Double Dragon characters